Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba Ganoush

Man-that baba ganoush was some tasty eats to nosh on while watching the Olympics opening ceremony-which were freaking amazing, by the way. Too bad I finished it last Monday-5 days too early. Damn.

I’ve been into dips lately. It’s a great way to use up fresh produce you can’t stop buying from the farmers market, cause I’ve been having a problem with that lately. It’s becoming a problem-I get so excited every Saturday morning at the market that I buy waaay more veggies than 1 petite person could possibly consume. That’s lots and lots and lots of chopped salads. And I’m getting a little (just a little) sick of them. But I can’t stop buying veggies. So, I’ve needed to find alternative ways of eating them. And dipping them in yummy dips has been delightfully delish. Lots of hummus, a white bean and olive dip from Martha Stewart (coming…), and my latest venture: baba ganoush.

I’ve eaten buckets of the baba at restaurants, especially from a fantastic kosher deli near my job. I always gobble it before the hummus but I’ve never considered making it myself. It seems so daunting and complicated, especially compared to hummus. With hummus, just dump a bunch of ingredients into the food processor and give it a whirl. With baba ganoush, you gotta roast the eggplant first. That’s one extra step-a scary one. However, I like taking risks. Heck-I cut my own hair quite often! If that isn’t a risk, I don’t know what is. So, when I saw a gorgeous bi-colored eggplant at the farmers market last Saturday, I decided to fuel my audacious side and try my had at baba ganoush.

And now it’s time for another photo essay-cause we all love photos, don’t we.

Here’s said eggplant. Isn’t it just stunning? I made sure it was firm with no soft spots.

This first step was to roast the eggplant on a burner on the stove. I’ve seen chefs do it on TV with eggplants and such, but I’ve never tried it myself. So, I just used the hours and hours of Food Network knowledge I had stored in my brain and let it rip. I put it directly on top of the burner and rotated every minute or so until the entire eggplant was completely charred.

Use tongs to rotate the eggplant cause you don’t want to burn your hands!! It took about 15 minutes total to char it. This is not cooking the eggplant, just roasting the outside to make it all smokey tasting. The longer you do this, the smokier the baba ganoush will taste. This is what it looked like when I was done with the stove.

I then stuck the eggplant in the oven at about 400 degrees for about 30 minutes-until I could stick a knife in the eggplant with no resistance. That is more important than the time-just make sure the eggplant is entire cooked and mushy. Mushy eggplant-mmmm.

The next step was when it became easy as pie. Or easy as hummus. I did my best to peel the skin off the eggplant and put it in the insides (it’s okay if some of the skin stays on-definitely not the end of the world) in a food processor along with a tablespoon of tahini, the juice of half a lemon, a good drizzle of olive oil, salt and a clove of garlic that I roasted as well. I didn’t want to put in a clove of raw garlic in because the flavor can overpower so much and I didn’t want it to hide the smokey flavor of the eggplant. So, when I put the eggplant in the oven, I stuck a clove of garlic in as well. I think it was a good choice.

A quick whizz and boom! Baba ganoush! And it made a fair amount. Looks like a medium-sized eggplant equals half a jam jar.

Here’s the mouthwatering close up-you can see the bits and pieces of the eggplant in it. Mmmmm.

And the taste? Yum!!!! Nice and smokey and delicious. It was a bit on the watery side, so maybe next time I’ll add more tahini, another clove of garlic or roast the eggplant on the stove a little longer. But, I don’t want to mess with a good thing. And an easy thing!! I was kinda shocked that this thing I had thought was so difficult for so long was so easy and achievable. So, something that I thought was going to be a huge risk in the kitchen actually ended up with a cinch. And I was able to empty my fridge of lots of veggies by dipping them in that tasty baba ganoush. Thanks baba ganoush!!! You’re a life (or veggie) savor.

so this is embarrassing but i always wanted to know what baba ganoush was ~ especially after seeing wedding crashers haha… so thanks for your super informative post and now i really want to try it after realizing it’s EGGPLANT!!!!!!!! yummmmmmmm!

Hi Betsy, This is my first trip to your blog I believe. Anyway, I was prompted to comment because at first I was just looking at the pictures and almost had a heart attack because I thought you set your apartment on fire via eggplant. Alas, I was wrong and you were being a master chef. Delicious looking dip. Every eggplant I’ve seen has been deep purple without the stripes your has. Is yours a special kind?

I have the exact same problem with farmers markets…everything just looks so good…Kind of makes me wish I was with family or lived with people who liked good food. Right away the beach boys song popped in my head…the baba looks tasty!

Hey Betsy!
baba ganoush is also one of my fave mediterranean dishes/dips/spreads… I do it a little different. Instead of burning the skin off, I cut it in half and bake it for 30 minutes. Then just scoop the insides out, then I blend it with tahini, garlic, lemon, yogurt, olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Same same, a little different! : )
d

Hey, Betsy. I noticed on Jenna’s blog that you posted you were struggling with IT band issues. I just got diagnosed also–in the middle of training for my second 1/2 marathon. I’m so frustrated. It hurts on the outside on my right knee and I completely favor it when I run. What have you been told to do to help it? Thanks!
Jenjpetroroy@gmail.com